Dan Brown is fascinated by obelisks and pyramids, and his coverage in The Lost Symbol is no exception. One need only recall the major obelisks in Rome and Bernini’s creations that lead the way and stand before the deadly cathedrals of Angels & Demons or the glass pyramid above the Louvre at the end of The Da Vinci Code. The most obvious obelisk is the towering Washington Monument which at 555 feet is the tallest structure in Washington, D.C., and for a brief few years, it was the tallest structure in the world. The monument obelisk is topped off by a pyramid, on which another pyramid, the capstone, is placed.
The Washington Monument was originally envisioned as a large column. But construction was soon halted for almost three decades because of a lack of funds. When the building was redesigned what emerged was a classical design of an obelisk 555 feet high on a 55 foot base. These dimensions were intended to match the classical Egyptian proportion of 10:1. Viewed from directly above (or in Google Earth) the entire complex is a circumpunct, a point inside a circle, which somewhat closer reveals a perfect pyramid at the peak.
Obelisks and pyramids have from ancient times been accorded mystical qualities. The now predictable Professor Robert Langdon’s mini-lecture informs us:
The pyramid essentially represents enlightenment. It’s an architectural symbol emblematic of man’s ability to break free from his earthly plane and ascend upward toward heaven, toward the golden sun, and ultimately, toward the supreme source of illumination (129).
A pyramid is a polygon with a base, topped by triangular sides converging at a point. There must be at least three sides, but the four-sided one is the one most seen. Pyramids date back four thousand years. The huge pyramids of Egypt have caused wonder among scientists and spectators, and given rise to all sorts of associations, from extraterrestrial involvement to the intercession of the gods, that might conceal the keys to mystical secrets. Since the pyramids did in fact contain secret passageways, the sense of the pyramid as a vessel of secrets is widespread.
The classical Egyptian obelisk has four sides tapering to a pyramid at its peak. Obelisks that directed one’s eyes to the heavens also guarded the entrance to temples and were symbols for the Egyptian Sun god, Aman Re or Ra: “The structure through which man elevated himself to the realm of the gods” (130). Original obelisks were monoliths, a single piece of stone, but today they are more likely to consist of many stones. In modern times Rome is considered the obelisk capital of the world, with several original Egyptian ones and others added over the centuries, including the one in the middle of St Peter’s Square.
The Freemasonic and other occult legends suggest that Egypt was inhabited by survivors of the lost island of Atlantis, that the Egyptian craft was passed along to those responsible for the construction of the Temple of Solomon, and that societies such as the Knights Templar, the Rosicrucians, and the Freemasons are the recipients and guardians of those secrets. America, some propose, is an incarnation of the ideal society described by Sir Francis Bacon in The New Atlantis. The New World nation is supposed to have inherited this wisdom. This fact, the truth that America holds some ancient secret, is purported to be revealed in the symbolism of the unfinished pyramid that adorns the back side of the Great Seal of the United States and is carried by hundreds of millions of people each day, on the reverse side of the U.S. one dollar bill.
Masonic pyramid
But is there another pyramid that is the closely guarded secret of the Masons, one that is supposed to reveal the secret portal to all wisdom? The Masonic Pyramid (131). The legend of the Masonic Pyramid, as recounted by Langdon, speaks of “a hidden pyramid–designed to protect the Ancient Mysteries until the time that all of mankind was ready to handle the awesome power that this wisdom could communicate.” (131). But his disclaimer is that it is “all myth.” In the Capitol subbasement he finds a nine-inch, solid, unfinished granite pyramid. It will hold one set of clues. Another mini-pyramid is the one made of gold that had been entrusted to him by Peter Solomon. Langdon returns it to Washington and then deciphers it only to find that it too bears symbols. These symbols, he discovers, are themselves marks on a treasure map that is to lead to the Lost Symbol and the Lost Word. But while there is a clear connection between pyramids and Freemasons, even as to the pyramid shape of the Temple Room itself in the House of the Temple, this “Masonic Pyramid” is one of the great fictions of the novel.
THE GREAT SEAL OF THE UNITED STATES
www.usa.gov/About/Great_Seal.shtml
PYRAMIDS: THE INSIDE STORY
www.nationalgeographic.com/pyramids/pyramids.html
SECRETS OF THE PYRAMIDS
www.secretsofthepyramids.com
OCCULT PYRAMID SYMBOLS
www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjJl9AX4FVE
